Ebay question. . .

[Chocaholic]

I had a motorcycle helmet listed on ebay with a reserve price of $420 (Shoei X11). Up until the last second of the auction, the highest bid was $316. Literally, at the last micro-second a bid came in EXACTLY at my reserve price of $420 from a new bidder.

How can that be? I know there's sniping software, but your reserve price is supposed to be hidden/confidential.

Also, I had limited the sale to the lower 48 only. The winning bidder is from the UK. Am I obligated to sell it to this person? I had provided a flat shipping amount to the lower 48. It would certainly cost a lot more to ship to the UK.

[stomachmonkey]

If you put in a max bid that exceeds the reserve it will not bid more than the reserve.

ex.

Current $316

I place a max bid of $500

It will automatically set my bid at the $420 reserve price.

If someone comes along and bids $430 then it will automatically out bid the $430 etc... until it hits my max of $500.

Tell him if he has a friend stateside that will accept it and forward to him fine.

you don't want to bother with shipping to the UK.

He will ask you to list it as a gift on the customs declaration so he avoids VAT.

Good chance the item sits in customs for days, weeks or as has happened to me months.

Then he'll harass you about it not having arrived.

Use FedEx or UPS as they will act as your clearing broker. If you use regular US mail they will not.

[RickM]

If the bidder (or his sniping software) put in $500 at the last second I believe it would stop at the reserve price of $420. Then if anyone countered with a higher amount it would continue to bid up, by proxy, to the $500.

If your settings were changed to US sale only then you should not be obligated to ship to the UK. Perhaps you want to double check them.

[rvanderpyl]

1. E-Bay does not show all bids up to reserve, they only show the highest, successful bid,

2. If say I bid $500.00 on your helmet, ebay would only raise bids until I hit your reserve unless someone else is also bidding.

3. If in your description you say you will only ship to the US you do not need to sell, I beleive there is a way that you can setup a auction to refuse bids from anyone outside your designated countrys, but doesn't matter, your description of product, and any conditions IE where you will ship, or how you are shipping is part of the conditions of the sale. I have seen plenty of auctions where buyers say they won't ship outside the US, sometimes if I am really interested I will contact them to see if they will make an exception, otherwise I skip bidding. There is one porsche parts seller who deals with it another way, in his shipping options he list international shipping at a cost 10X in the US, so if someone insists on bidding he would make more on the freight than on the item.

In this case I would point out the shipping condition and then go thru the EBay dispute process to reverse the sale so you don't have to pay the listing/selling fee.

[johndglynn]

First off if the lid is not E-marked then it's illegal for him to ride it here.

Second if he is outside your declared shipping area, you can apply for a final fee credit based on him being from outside where you ship to. Block bidders from outside the postal area in future sales - I do it and it is a good plan, though I often open it up if someone with decent feedback asks me to ship to them.

I always ask US sellers if they will ship to me in the UK or to family in Florida or DC before I bid, I think he should have done the same, especially as you stated lower 48 only. However, if it was me, I would sell to him as what are the options - sell for $320 or don't sell, relist and don't sell again maybe.

The normal mail will act as your clearing agent and it should not be stuck in customs for months. It is usually through customs in 5 or 6 working days here and the Post Office will write to who ever is listed as the recipient to tell them they have duty to pay, then they send it when the duty is settled. This is usually the step where it goes a bit tits up, so a tracking number is a good plan.

Like I say if it was me and the guy has good (50+, 100%) feedback I would send it, otherwise relist and block non-48 bidders. I would probably push to send FedEx as that is a surefire way to be covered with the Paypal guarantee if it goes missing, and we all know Paypal sucks for sellers, especially if you haven't used a decent courier.

[Chocaholic]

Thanks guys. Turns out that someone was fraudulently bidding with this guys account. E-bay sent me an e-mail indicating that they ended the auction to protect me and the guy in the UK that probably won't know anything about this until he boots up his PC tomorrow morning.

So, I still have a helmet. Guess I'll just keep it.